I’ve added “Miracle Fruit” to my container garden this year. This plant originates in West Africa but I got mine from a grower in Florida.

Scientific name: Synsepalum dulcificum. Common names for this species and its berry include miracle fruit, miracle berry, miraculous berry, sweet berry.

The plant requires temperatures above 70 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity above 50%. Miracle fruit plants are tropical rain forest plants. This means outside of Florida, you will need some type of greenhouse during the cold months. 

It’s advised to keep watering it for a week when planted.  Then the following week to keep the soil semi-dry and plant in partial shade as direct sunlight can harm the young leaves.

Miracle fruit has gained much attention in the past years for it’s ability to masks the flavor of sour foods and turn them sweet. So if you eat a miracle berry then go suck on a lemon it will be sweet.  This effect is due to miraculin, which is used commercially as a sugar substitute.

These are the kind of fruits I would love to get someday. I hope it doesn’t take a miracle to grow them! Photo from Wikipedia.

Back in the 1960s, Robert Harvey, a biomedical postgraduate student, encountered the miracle berry in west Africa. Seeing the potential of this fruit, Harvey decided to market it as a sugar substitute. Especially with other sugar substitute having that bitter after-taste, not this miracle berry.

Harvey was ready to bring this unique fruit’s extract to the market. His story did not have a good ending.

It started with Harvey being followed in the night to having his office being burgled. Then having the FDA unexpectedly turning against the product.

When Harvey asked, the FDA decided it would be considered as an additive, and that would require several years more testing. The company could not afford extra funding for the test so they folded. Imagine if he did bring this to the market, that would have positive effects on our health and cooking.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was at our local seed store and found out about this interesting new plant - the climbing or vine spinach. There are two varieties, the green or red vine version.

Since it originates from East Asia, it’s also known as Malabar spinach, Indian spinach, or Ceylon spinach.

Not only is it edible, but it makes for pretty landscaping with it’s climbing vines and flowers.

One gardener also mentioned that this plant is a true and fast climber. Especially with the weather gets really hot.

I will try to grow them in container with a trellis in a nice sunny spot.  And maybe plant one seedling in mom’s garden to surprise her.  I think they will do well in our northern California summer.

I can only imagine how neat it would be to have fresh endless spinach salads all summer. And the fact that the stems are soft and edible sounds amazing.

Here’s some interesting info I gathered about this neat plant from Cornell University Vegetable Growing Guide:

“The leaves from this heat-loving vine have a mild flavor and are used like spinach in salads and cooking.

Annual plant but is perennial in frost-free areas. Extremely frost-sensitive. It creeps when temperatures are cool, but leaps when the mercury hits 90 F.

Part shade increases leaf size. But prefers hot weather and full sun. Requires trellis or other support for twining vine. Can follow peas up the same trellis.

Grows well in a wide range of soils, but prefers moist, fertile soils, high in organic matter, pH 6.5 to 6.8. Tolerates damp soil. Requires consistent moisture to keep from flowering, which causes leaves to turn bitter.

How to plant:

Propagate by seed, cuttings

Germination temperature: 65 F to 75 F

Days to emergence: 14 to 21 - Scarify (use a file, sharp knife or sandpaper to carefully cut through the tough seed coat) seed to hasten germination. May take 3 weeks or more.

Seed can be saved 4 years.”

Note: It’s not truly spinach and comes from the Basellaceae Family. The family comprises some two dozen species of herbaceous plants, some with climbing habits.

Photo from Wikipedia.

Read the rest of this entry »

March 20th will be the first day of spring. And there are signs of it approaching everywhere.

But it’s still bone chilling cold at night.  As a recent study came out to say the melting Arctic is fueling all this cold surge.

At least the sun is still shining.

Jade blossoms.  This plant is in need of new potting soil soon.

Japanese plum blossoms.

I’ve purchased these seeds for mom to plant in her garden.  These are organic and non-GMO cucumber seeds.  These will make a great addition to summer salads.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s February and one of the few plants in bloom is this Kalanchoe succulent. It’s also called the Paddle Plant with it’s large thick succulent leaves.

This plant was grown as part of my mom’s succulent plant garden. The plant had some freezing nights to deal with, but mom made sure to cover them up on those nights.

From Wikipedia: “Succulent plants, also known as succulents or fat plants, are water-retaining plants adapted to arid climates or soil conditions. Succulent plants store water in their leaves, stems, and also in roots.

Many succulents come from the dry areas of the tropics and subtropics, such as steppes, semi-desert, and desert. High temperatures and low precipitation force plants to collect and store water to survive long dry periods.”

The last time I saw these plants in bloom were from my plant. Mine was a cutting from this same plant a few years back. And the flower still didn’t look quite as bright and beautiful as this one. The color here is just much more red than my plant. It must be getting prime sunshine and great potting soil. Or maybe mom just has a green thumb.

3 Flowers Blooming
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

So far three of the buds have opened up from the Paddle Plant. Maybe they will all open by Christmas day.

They look like peppers when closed and tulips when opened.  The petals are thick and look almost fake, like wax flowers. 

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not sure what type of succulent this is, but probably from the Kalanchoe family. The leaves remind me of Jade plant, except these leaves are much bigger. These leaves are thick and juicy and it does look like a big paddle for playing Ping Pong. Therefore it could be a “Paddle Plant.”

I’ve had this plant for almost four years. And this winter it has these flower buds. They’ve look like this for a month now and have not opened up yet.

Possible it could be called “Desert Cabbage, Paddle Plant, Flapjack Plant, Ice Sculpture, Kalanchoe thyrsiflora or Kalanchoe luciae.”

Moss are interesting little plants. Little patches of bright green in an otherwise dark corner of the forest. Moss are different than plants because they do not have flowers, leaves, or seed. But reproduce with pores.

There are also many different type of moss. Here I’ll break down the differences.

Photo below are one of the many uses of moss. These are really nice ones from “Twig Terrariums.” Photo from flickr.

Sphagnum Moss - Comes in dried form used in floral arrangements. Bonsai hobbyists also use them for air layering. The live Sphagnum moss is used in terrariums or miniature indoor garden.

Spanish Moss: Found growing on large trees in the SE United States, where it’s warm and humid. Not related to moss, but part of the bromeliads family. They are “epiphyte” and also called air plants.

Moss: Usually found on damp and shady parts of the forest, or if you’re lucky in your backyard. Also used to decorate gardens and terrariums.

The Georgia Gardner had this tip about propagating moss.

“You can “propagate” moss by taking a handful of moss adding about one cup of buttermilk and one cup of water and mixing it in the blender. Take the concoction and pour or paint it onto the surfaces that you want to grow moss.”

Sphagnum Peat Moss: The dead material that accumulates in the lower levels of a bog. There are peat moss bogs found in Ireland and Canada. Used in garden beds and for growing grass.

I got Sphagnum peat moss to grow catgrass and got this within 2 weeks. Sphagnum peat moss is also great for growing lawn seeds. Just spread out the seeds and apply the Sphagnum Peat moss as a top layer.

Cranberries come around for a short period this time of year. People like making cranberry sauce to eat with their turkey for Thanksgiving. A good thing since cranberries are one of the most healthiest fruits available.

I like to eat them this way, mixed with salt, sugar, and pepper. I also tossed in some dried cranberries because the fresh cranberries are very tangy.

Dried cranberries are a favorite with trail mixes. I also like them in granola. It keeps the granola from being too boring.

In 2005, researchers found that cranberries are also good for your teeth and gum. This is from the University of Rochester press release on November 23, 2005.

“Koo’s team also found evidence that cranberry juice disrupts the formation of the building block of plaque, known as a glucan.

Like a mason using cement to build a wall brick by brick, bacteria use enzymes known as glucosyltransferases to build dental plaque piece by piece, quickly forming a gunky fortress that covers the tooth and gives bacteria a safe haven to munch on sugar, thrive, and churn out acid.

Koo’s team found that cranberry juice prevents bacteria from forming plaque by inhibiting those enzymes and by stopping additional bacteria from glomming on to the ever-growing goo.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

I used to get my chaga from a health food supplier out of Florida, but they have been out of stock for some time now. So I did a search for “wildcrafted chaga mushroom” and found many on Ebay. I chose the chaga from Maine.

Chaga (scientific name: Inonotus obliquus) also known as cinder cork. It’s a unique fungus that grows especially on the wounds of birch trees. But it can also be found growing on ironwood, elm, alder, beech and other hardwood species.

To prepare chaga, it has to be dried. Some advise simmering the dried chaga for a few hours. Just to be on the safe side, I let mine simmer on high in the crock pot for 10 hours. I used 2 small pieces along with 3 quart of water. The color was very intense, looked very much like coffee. The smell was pleasant, very fresh and woodsy.

This is 1/2 chaga extract with 1/2 water. It taste very pleasant and no bitterness at all.

Chaga has the highest antioxidant concentration of any known natural food. When made into tea (and no sweetener added), the taste is suppose to be slightly bitter. Like many herbal medicines, the bitterness seems to be a common factor.

Due to chaga’s health benefits, it’s been referred to as “King of Herbs” and “Nature’s Silver Bullet”. Chaga has been researched as an antiviral, anti-tumor for breast and uterine and other cancers, and diabetes.

Cheers to Chaga!

Note: Survival Topics has a neat post on how to harvest and prepare wild chaga.

Some advise to boil while others say to simmer for hours. For best result, take 30 minutes on empty stomach before a meal.

Apple season is coming to an end out west. Many “U-Pick” orchards are closing their doors this weekend. Luckily we made it just in time to pick the last few apples left on the tree.

Gala apple hanging on a branch.

Clearview orchard is open only during the weekends. Located in Watsonville, just a few miles from Santa Cruz. The apples are grown in rows on a steep hill. When picking the apples, you have to be careful and not get your eyes poked by the branches.

This is the first time I’ve been to a “u-pick” farm and wasn’t used to paying for fruits that I picked myself. I guess I’ve always been lucky to get FREE fruits, whether it’s from a friend’s yard or our own.

We found out about Clearview Orchard from a Groupon deal, 10 lb for $10, normally it’s $2 per pound of organic apples. We easily picked 14 lbs in no time! And it was well worth it for fresh crisp apple right off the tree.

Bumper crop of Fuji apples.

On the down side I wish they had more varieties of apples such as Granny Smith. There seem to be only two types, the Gala and Fuji apples. Another downside was that there weren’t any animals around like goats or chickens. It would be fun to have a petting zoo. 

But next time I want to try a different orchard, one with a working farm and red barn too. Gizdich Ranch is also located in the same area and sounds like fun.